In this blog post, the authors explore the issue of FGM, highlighting the work that still needs to be done to address this problem. Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been a troubling global issue for decades, particularly in Africa and Asia. FGM is the removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the […]
Latest articles
Human Connections That Travel Oceans
In this blog post, the authors discuss the human connections that can arise from working in even the most challenging of situations. The COVID-19 patient did not speak English, so we communicated using a translator phone. He taught me a few words and sentences so that I could ask simple questions to other patients who […]
The Surge in the New COVID-19 Variant in South Africa: A Threat to the Healthcare System and a call for global unity.
The authors discuss the need for a global response to new COVID-19 variants… The COVID-19 has been very unpredictable thus far, and it has once again surprised us, agitating and disorienting our scientists, medical professionals, and the general public. A new COVID-19 variant, the B.1.1529 known as Omicron, has been discovered. It was first confirmed […]
Omicron: A variant of concern
The authors discuss the emergence of Omicron along with its epidemiology, structural variation, diagnosis, and the current regional strategic plans to combat the virus spread. In December 2019 in Wuhan city of China, a cluster of patients presented to local hospitals with symptoms of cough, fever, and malaise. The causative virus was identified as the […]
Dealing with global vaccine hesitancy – the case of Ukraine
The authors discuss COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Ukraine. Vaccine hesitancy around the world has contrarily affected the battle against the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue isn’t restricted to explicit geographic districts or social orders on the planet; different people and societies have various reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Some of the reasons are […]
Cheek-puffing in Bell’s Palsy
Dr Philip Welsby muses on the perils of trying to assess one’s own signs in the mirror… […]
Approaches to the amygdala by the medical and veterinary professions
Professor Terence Ryan discusses the range of stimuli which can be picked up by the forebrain and directed to the amygdala, suggesting how they might be used as therapeutic interventions by both the medical and veterinary professions. The forebrain receives many stimuli which it passes on to the amygdala known as the emotional centre. It […]
Unusual wounding influenced by the mind and demonstrating the power of the brain
Professor Terence Ryan discusses links between the amygdala and physical symptoms and signs such as psychogenic purpura. Medical students in 1950 at Oxford listened to Dr John Hunt talking about Indian Fakirs. The injury they could do to themselves without long term harm was fascinating. Since then this author has witnessed and photographed a sharp […]
Alien physician
Khalid Shalaby discusses some of issues facing international medical graduates training in the US. Many thoughts were racing through my head as I was writhing in bed with a fever in March 2020. Internal medicine residents have been on the frontlines of America’s fight against the pandemic. I was among the afflicted with the deadly […]
Mental Health Services in India: challenges and innovations
Dr. Manik Inder Singh Sethi discusses some of the challenges facing mental health services in India, as well as some potential solutions. I am a resident in the Department of Psychiatry that caters to one of the largest private universities in South India. India today boasts a population of 1.36 billion people, the second-highest in […]